First Smoke questions. MES 40

soonerprices

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Apr 24, 2011

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• May 1, 2011

• #1

How thick should the smoke be?  Should the box be full?  Should it be thin smoke where you should still be able to see the meat or thick where it makes it hard to see?

Should you wait until the smoke stops to add more chips?

Should you clean out old chips each time right before you add more chips?

Smoking two pork butts.  

 

Fife

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• May 1, 2011

• #2

I add more chunk when I am not able to see any smoke out the top of smoker.Thin smoke is good. I clean out the chip box when I a finnishes with my smoke for the day.  Good Luck

 

SmokinAl

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• May 1, 2011

• #3

How thick should the smoke be? It should be almost invisible, if you can smell it that's good.

Should the box be full? If you are using chips adding a small amount each time is the best. 

Should it be thin smoke where you should still be able to see the meat or thick where it makes it hard to see? You do not want billowing white smoke, if you have the window in the door, the meat should be clearly visible, if it's too smoky to see the meat, it's too much smoke. Make sure the top vent is open all the way.

Should you wait until the smoke stops to add more chips? Yes

Should you clean out old chips each time right before you add more chips? No, on a long smoke like pork butt, you may need to clean it out periodically, especially if you have the small chip box, but it's not necessary each time.

 

tjohnson

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• May 1, 2011

• #4

What Al Said!

Thin Blue Smoke = Good!

Thick White Billowing Smoke = Bad!

You want a haze of smoke inside your smoker, not a thick cloud or fog.

TBS is also called "Ninja Smoke".  You can smell it, but not really visable

Todd

 

soonerprices

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Apr 24, 2011

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• May 1, 2011

• #5

I remembered I had a remote about 90 minutes into the smoke, I made the Tim the Tool Man sound and went and got it out of my cutting table drawer.  I turned it on, checked my meat probe temp and pressed the on/off button as to not run the battery down.  About 20 minutes later I step outside to check everything and the smoker is off.  I lost about 60 degrees.  I got it back going and I'm sure everything is fine.

Anybody else make this mistake?

 

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biteme7951

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Mar 21, 2010

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Michigan

• May 1, 2011

• #6

soonerprices said:

I remembered I had a remote about 90 minutes into the smoke, I made the Tim the Tool Man sound and went and got it out of my cutting table drawer.  I turned it on, checked my meat probe temp and pressed the on/off button as to not run the battery down.  About 20 minutes later I step outside to check everything and the smoker is off.  I lost about 60 degrees.  I got it back going and I'm sure everything is fine.

Anybody else make this mistake?

Click to expand...

Yeah, been there, done that. If you don't start with the remote, you are basically starting over when you turn on the remote and have to re-program the time and temp to continue. still a great smoker though.
 

 

soonerprices

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Apr 24, 2011

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• May 1, 2011

• #7

The meat has been around 150 for 90 minutes. Should I go ahead and wrap it.

 

beer-b-q

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• May 1, 2011

• #8

soonerprices said:

The meat has been around 150 for 90 minutes. Should I go ahead and wrap it.

Click to expand...

I never wrap butts but if you want to I would let them get up to around 165ºF before wrapping and placing back in Smoker... For pulled pork you need to take the final temp to 205ºF.

 

soonerprices

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Apr 24, 2011

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• May 1, 2011

• #9

I have to be doing something wrong.  I am smoking 2 butts and put them on around 8:30 am and it's 9:00 pm now.  The temp was 150 at 5pm and now it's 156.  please help

 

Last edited: May 1, 2011

roller

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Mar 10, 2010

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N.E. Louisiana

• May 1, 2011

• #10

You just have to bare with it. They will go into a stall and stay sometimes 2 or 3 hours. I know that it is frustating but hang in there. It will all be good in the end. My first one too 16 hours. Do not open the smoker door.

 

SmokinAl

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• May 2, 2011

• #11

They have a mind of their own. Be patient.